Aurat

Interesting piece in the Herald today:

AUSTRALIAN counter-terrorism experts could be sent to Pakistan under a far-reaching plan by the Federal Government to help that country promote stability, slow the spread of Islamic extremism and stem the flow of insurgents into Afghanistan.

The plan would mark a significant deepening of Australian-Pakistani relations and could result in the two countries working together on the types of extensive counter-terrorism programs that have been extended to Indonesia, the Philippines and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific. Senior Government sources told the Herald the measures would extend beyond security and include plans to develop an extradition treaty, formalise dialogues between senior officials and ministers , deal with food security, assist with security training and extend aid and development assistance.

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“For 35 years people have been asking me if there will be a female president, and I have always said, not in my lifetime, I still feel that way. The patterns of history are that, at the upper levels, we see different varieties of men first. The female comes later.”

-Gloria Steinem

Huma Qureshi on being the “The wrong kind of Muslim for TV”. I’m really feeling Huma on this one. Don’t you just love funky South Asian women journalists who use “woo hoo” in their articles?

 “Last summer, I was asked to take part in the programme. The makers said they wanted to shatter stereotypes and show the empowered, modern, young, cool Muslim woman (presumably because we haven’t gone off the rails like the modern, young, British, uncool Muslim man). Would I take part? ‘Of course,’ I said. Am I not empowered and modern and Muslim and cool? Hell, yes.

It went well, I thought, and so they said. But - and this was quite a big but - they were a bit concerned about my appearance.

‘Your dress is quite Western,’ they said ruefully. I was wearing jeans and a short-sleeved top (yes, I really do remember what I was wearing that day. How could I not? I thought I was going to be famous and on TV), but I was hardly scantily clad. So much for the empowered, modern, young, cool Muslim woman; turns out what the BBC really wanted was a authentic, well-covered one instead.

You see, burkas make good TV. I don’t. I’ve just taken a look at the show. What we get is the presenter donning an abaya and going to Yemen to show us all the fun things us Muslim women do, like wear long, black cloaks, party in the women’s quarters and put sparkly eyeshadow on. ‘Waxing’s a big deal among Muslim women,’ she says, causing an cringe from me. ‘Having any hair is a complete social faux pas. The “Hollywood” that all the celebs are doing started in the Middle East.”

 Via Aliana

He’s not too busy, scared, intimidated, living under a rock…if he’s not asking you out “He’s Just Not that Into You.” Move on!

The trendies have discovered the kaffiyeh as a cool fashion accessory. And yes people, I had one before it was fashionable (back in the revolutionary- resistance -marxist-feminist-socialist-communist-islamist-satanist student days.)

Although the store brands are tiny handkerchiefs compared to the authentic ones which can double as tablecloths or in my case computer cover adornments.

It’s a strange feeling when something you’ve used ordinarily your whole life becomes an exoticism with public fanfare. Like mehndi, or saris, or Indian style kameez tops, or say even Islam!

A curious distancing out-of-body effect follows, followed by a defamiliarisation of the familiar and a realisation that all meaning is so well, relative.

Related Links: Kaffiyeh kerfuffle 

… who just turned 67 but is still kicking it.

Happy Birthday Bob! (below the lyrics to ‘Spirit on the water’- one of my favourites from his latest album ‘Modern Times’ released last year.)

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From Hafiz.

Sometimes Love taste like this:

The pain is so sweet

I beg God,

“May I never open my eyes again

And know another image than what I have

Just seen

May I never know

Another feeling other than your

Inconceivable

Immaculate

Touch

Why not

Let Hafiz die

In this blessed Ruin?”

A sublime poem by Vikram Seth sent to me by a friend. For anyone who has experienced a dark night of the soul (or heart) this one hits the spot.
The fever bird sang out last night.
I could not sleep, try as I might.

My brain was split, my spirit raw.
I looked into the garden, saw

The shadow of the amaltas
Shake slightly on the moonlit grass.

Unseen, the bird cried out its grief,
Its lunacy, without relief:

Three notes repeated closer, higher,
Soaring, then sinking down like fire

Only to breathe the night and soar,
As crazed, as desperate, as before.

I shivered in the midnight heat
And smelt the sweat that soaked my sheet.

And now tonight I hear again
The call that skewers through my brain,

The call, the brain-sick triple note –
A bone of pain stuck in its throat.

I am so tired I could weep.
Mad bird, for God’s sake let me sleep.

Why do you cry like one possessed?
When will you rest? When will you rest?

Why wait each night till all but I
Lie sleeping in the house, then cry?

Why do you scream into my ear
What no-one else but I can hear.

This Pakistani magazine is doing just that- addressing issues of sex and sexuality that are taboo in Pakistani society. ‘Chay’, according to its mission statement seeks to defuse the tendency towards fear, repression and shame around sexuality in Pakistan and create a forum to talk about sex in an open way.

Having observed in Pakistani society, a disturbing tendency towards fear and shame around issues of sex and sexuality - that is to say, around a normal human interaction - the founders of Chay Magazine feel that sex and sexuality should enter the public discourse. The taboo and silence around sex and sexuality are oppressive on all of us, irrespective of gender, and lead, at the very least, to unhappiness in our daily lives and, more often, to violence, shame, depression, ill health and general social malaise. We at Chay Magazine endeavor to bring to the Pakistani reading public a place to converse about those things we are most shy of. Our hope is that, through this, we can become braver and stronger, more powerful, self-assured, and just and fair members of society.

Taking into account that a lot of the gender problems in Pakistan come down to issues of sexuality or sexual anxiety around women, this magazine seems to be a really important and brave endeavour. It seems more Oprah than Cleo or Cosmopolitan but considering the only other public expressions of sexuality in Pakistan is either mullah level repression or semi-pornographic Bollywood films, Chay seems to provide a sensible mid-way from both extremes (which are really flip sides of the same kind of objectification and seem only to serve male sexuality.)

It will be interesting to hear Pakistani women’s stories, ideas, concerns and desires. Considering the heated discusions around the blogosphere Chay has already created some controversy.

So what are you waiting for? Grab a cup of chai and enjoy ‘Chay’ !